Danube water levels 2022 and similar topics - plus tips and info

[cabrunacci]

3 hours ago, notamermaid said:

Definitely better than Viking, but I know they have done ship swaps on the Danube in past years in low water, as reported by cruisers. The river is currently so low in Bavaria that I imagine Scenic to struggle as much as Viking. But details we would need to get up to date from passengers.

 

So where are we with the river levels? Regensburg going up, just daily fluctuation or reaction to rain? Not sure yet. Pfelling still very low at 225cm.

 

notamermaid

 

Thank you notamermaid!

[cabrunacci]

3 hours ago, Canal archive said:

The Scenic fleet ranges from 1m to 1.7 but 1m seems very shallow to me. Mind you all this ship information takes me back to being trained by the then Admiralty as a technical illustrator the then ships drawing boards were way long and marine architects are really picky.

Thank you for info!

[CastleCritic]

Ive been watching a few of the amawaterways Danube ships on the ship tracker site.

 

First the Amamagna since...as a ship twice as wide as a normal 135m Ama ship..she would be the first to show signs of having issues. (1.8m vs 1.6m draft according to the same site). It seemed early in the week like she spent a curiously long time in passau before leaving, I dont know if she made it to vilshofen....is currently at Vienna with a shown destination of Budapest in 2 days

 

Amaverde. plodding its way up from Romania..again the tracking data was a little weird but she's moving due in at Budapest on the 25th and it looks like to continue to vilshofen after.

 

Then there is Amabella, the other ship which does the Romania leg which seems to have been sitting in Budapest since the 17th, this seems to support something I saw a few days ago which was that there were no Budapest to Romania (or reverse) cruises still scheduled until the 8th (alternate explanation is that they are chartered or just full....).

 

For the normal north/west segment the Amaviola is scheduled to make Vilshofen tonight...I think, she left Passau going west..again ship tracking on the Danube looks spotty.

Edited July 22, 2022 by CastleCritic

[FirstTimeRiver]

We just traveled on Scenic Amber on the Danube and once we got to Passau from Budapest and Vienna, we couldn’t go on to Vilshofen or Nuremberg due to low water levels.

[rizello]

18 minutes ago, FirstTimeRiver said:

We just traveled on Scenic Amber on the Danube and once we got to Passau from Budapest and Vienna, we couldn’t go on to Vilshofen or Nuremberg due to low water levels.

What did you end up doing?

[cabrunacci]

4 hours ago, CastleCritic said:

Ive been watching a few of the amawaterways Danube ships on the ship tracker site.

 

First the Amamagna since...as a ship twice as wide as a normal 135m Ama ship..she would be the first to show signs of having issues. (1.8m vs 1.6m draft according to the same site). It seemed early in the week like she spent a curiously long time in passau before leaving, I dont know if she made it to vilshofen....is currently at Vienna with a shown destination of Budapest in 2 days

 

Amaverde. plodding its way up from Romania..again the tracking data was a little weird but she's moving due in at Budapest on the 25th and it looks like to continue to vilshofen after.

 

Then there is Amabella, the other ship which does the Romania leg which seems to have been sitting in Budapest since the 17th, this seems to support something I saw a few days ago which was that there were no Budapest to Romania (or reverse) cruises still scheduled until the 8th (alternate explanation is that they are chartered or just full....).

 

For the normal north/west segment the Amaviola is scheduled to make Vilshofen tonight...I think, she left Passau going west..again ship tracking on the Danube looks spotty.

Thanks for update and info.

[cabrunacci]

1 hour ago, rizello said:

What did you end up doing?

Yes, what DID you end up doing?

[cabrunacci]

2 hours ago, FirstTimeRiver said:

We just traveled on Scenic Amber on the Danube and once we got to Passau from Budapest and Vienna, we couldn’t go on to Vilshofen or Nuremberg due to low water levels.

What DID you end up doing?  

(We are on Scenic Jasper traveling Amsterdam to Budapest starting  this coming Monday….. they’ll probably be dong the same to us.)

[steamboats]

12 hours ago, Seattle1964 said:

Well, that's twice I've made that mistake.  But, to be fair, it's a coin toss when there are no gender indicators and if I get it wrong then you understand why I don't ever gamble money. LOL

 

No worries... German is an absolute horrible language regarding a gender neutral wording. It´s almost impossible. And actually I don´t mind. 

 

10 hours ago, notamermaid said:

Not sure yet. Pfelling still very low at 225cm.

 

Actually this is a record low for Pfelling.

 

steamboats

[notamermaid]

3 hours ago, steamboats said:

 

No worries... German is an absolute horrible language regarding a gender neutral wording. It´s almost impossible. And actually I don´t mind. 

 

 

Actually this is a record low for Pfelling.

 

steamboats

True. 225cm was the update to the day before when it was even lower. I wonder what they will log in as the new low at the end of the year. Could be 223, 224, 225 or 226. Still cannot believe the Elbe is doing much better this Summer in comparison, quite unusual.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Regensburg gauge has seen a nice rise but appears to have peaked now. Pfelling gauge has risen to 228cm and we will see the peak probably late in the evening. What that will be we cannot know but the authorities' website suggests 233cm. By tomorrow all the levels of the navigable Bavarian Danube will be on a downward trend again and I am afraid the forecast suggests 220cm at Pfelling. Which could be the new recorded lowest. But I have a suspicion that it may not stop there.

 

notamermaid

 

Edited July 22, 2022 by notamermaid

[Seattle1964]

Everyone on the River Splendor heading to Budapest was just informed that they will not be able to make it beyond Regensburg and will be put up in hotels and use land transportation for the remaining 5 days of the river cruise they booked.  There are people on that ship that were slated to continue on the run from Budapest to Bucharest for another two weeks of cruising, but they were not told what their fate will be; Not even a list of possibilities.  Can you believe that?  And... I am supposed to meet with some of them in Budapest in a week!

Has the cruise line contacted me?

No.

Have they responded with any information to all the queries I have made over the last week?

No.

I really only booked because my friends were going and it sounded like fun being that my formative years were in Europe.  Now that I have looked into the cruise line, I am beginning to get a sick feeling in my stomach.  I paid over $10k with a check for a discount... no way to do a chargeback or dispute the charge.  I also bought the cancel-for-any-reason insurance... yeah, right.  Apparently "Any" has a new definition that you and I don't know.  Ugh

If *I* saw it coming, then they knew it was coming, too.  Written notices to those presently on the vessel, but NOTHING to those due to fly out in a week. SMH

🤬

[steamboats]

@Seattle1964 that´s exactly the Pfelling area notamermaid is talking about. Pfelling is downriver of the city of Straubing. This area of the Danube river around Straubing and Deggendorf is one of the parts which is not regulated by locks and dams. And it´s between the ports of Regensburg and Passau. They are disputing this area for more than 30 years now. They need levees as there has been some severe floodings and a lock/dam system to keep the river up.

 

I just saw an article in a German travel business magazine (online, paywall) with an interview with Phoenix Reisen talking about reroutings due to the low water on the Danube river.

 

BTW another "three drops" of rain during the night and in the morning. But nothing which may change anything on the Danube river.

 

steamboats

Edited July 23, 2022 by steamboats

[notamermaid]

Pfelling gauge at 240cm, a slight rise since last night but nothing to write home about.

 

6 hours ago, steamboats said:

I just saw an article in a German travel business magazine (online, paywall) with an interview with Phoenix Reisen talking about reroutings due to the low water on the Danube river.

There is one German online magazine that I quite like for the info on cruise travel. Not too expensive, I am considering subscribing. But generally, unfortunately, they are far above my budget.

 

I can imagine Phoenix needing to re-route, for people's info: they only offer German language itineraries and have a mixed fleet of 135m and smaller ships.

 

notamermaid

 

[steamboats]

@notamermaid I´m talking about FVW which is tourism in general not just cruising.

 

steamboats

[blag]

2 hours ago, steamboats said:

@notamermaid I´m talking about FVW which is tourism in general not just cruising.

 

steamboats

What is FVW, please? 

Edited July 24, 2022 by blag

[notamermaid]

3 hours ago, steamboats said:

@notamermaid I´m talking about FVW which is tourism in general not just cruising.

 

steamboats

Yes, they have nice articles. I occasionally read this, informative stuff from the industry, but I mainly read the cruise articles and check the job offers. A pity I cannot read the article that features Phoenix. The magazine is not relevant enough for my line of work so we have no subscription at the office. I will ask the boss if there is money in the kitty...

 

1 hour ago, blag said:

What is FVW, please? 

FVW is a German tourism magazine designed for those within the industry (and interested other parties): https://www.fvw.de/

They do have an international section, see top right of the page.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Pfelling gauge at 241cm. Forecast suggests a slight rise but not over 250cm. For those only just joining - it is so long ago now that the river was at a good level - we desperately need 280cm. Better would be 290cm. Large river cruise ships have problems with the passage from 290cm and lower, always depending on individual draft.

 

Weather: rain coming in from the Alps tomorrow, not a lot. Tuesday could see substantial rain over West and Northwest Austria with some coming into Germany East of Lake Constance and also via the Lech river supplying water to the Danube. Little rain along the young Danube (West of Ulm). Substantial rain that may go into the Isar but, as mentioned before, only adds water to the Danube past Deggendorf. We have no long range hydrology forecast for the area. To me the outlook past Tuesday is unclear. Could the rain cause a rise at Pfelling that gets the level over 260cm? Will we see another drop before it happens, i.e. making it more unlikely? And what will August bring?

 

The Lech river is important as it is the third longest tributary of the Danube in Germany, the two bigger ones being the Inn and the Isar, both of which have their mouth much further downstream. The Isar, as I said, near Deggendorf, the Inn you will know if you have been to Passau as it forms the amazing sight of the three rivers joining at the town, the others there being the Ilz and the Danube of course. https://tourism.passau.de/discover-passau/sights/dreifluesseeck-where-three-rivers-meet/

 

Passau has a nice webcam: https://www.feratel.com/webcams/deutschland/passau.html

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Not much change at Pfelling: 242cm.

 

Rain in Bavaria forecast for late evening and during the night.

 

notamermaid

 

[drisro1]

I have been monitoring cruise mapper for several days, and no ships seem to be traversing the Straubing-Vilshofen stretch at all. What would be a rough estimate of water levels needed to resume sailing through the area, understanding the variation between ship drafts and company policies will impact this? Above, notamermaid mentions 280-290 as levels we need. Seems like a pretty big difference from present 242. Our cruise scheduled on Aug 12. Doing a rain dance here.

[notamermaid]

2 hours ago, drisro1 said:

Above, notamermaid mentions 280-290 as levels we need. Seems like a pretty big difference from present 242. Our cruise scheduled on Aug 12.

For the 135m ships I will stick to those figures, seeing that 290cm is official from the mouth of a hydrology person. But a captain may attempt it when the level is at 278cm depending on direction they sail (there is a slight difference in the laws of physics between upstream and downstream sailing which I cannot explain, no navigation I can do .) Or even 276cm. I really have no way of knowing any more details. The shorter ships fare just a little bit better, but again I have no details. What you can do is follow ships on vesselfinder. See how the ships do in the next 48 hours.

 

https://www.vesselfinder.com/

 

Right now I cannot see any ships sailing between Deggendorf and Straubing, but that may just be coincidence as tour operators will want to be in towns at this time still. I would start by following the Monarch Empress (110m) which has left Passau and is now in the lock direction Vilshofen. ETA Regensburg 27 July.

 

August 12 is still a long way away in river level terms but I am a bit skeptical about the Danube returning to normal levels by then. Just no way of knowing before, right now I would say, a week before you cruise. and even then a full day of rain can make a big difference, a slight difference in level I mean, but the crucial difference as regards sailing or not.

 

Let us see what tomorrow or rather the rain during the evening brings.

 

Rain is sweeping over the Danube as I write. If you would like to follow the developments, you can do this here: https://www.dwd.de/DE/leistungen/radarbild_film/radarbild_film.html#buehneTop

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

 

Edited July 25, 2022 by notamermaid

[Canal archive]

Wow the sheer power of multiple positive thoughts.  Hmmmmmmmmm!  😆😀

[Seattle1964]

45 minutes ago, Canal archive said:

Wow the sheer power of multiple positive thoughts.

If only.  We wouldn't have any problems at all if such metaphysical powers prevailed.  Laughing with you!  🤣  In ones personal life, I think a realistic positive disposition is healthy and rewarding even if we can't affect the physical world around us.

Rainmakers back in the day made off with a lot of good people's monies, so don't be too positive/trusting. 

BTW, I just got %$%& out of about $10k by the travel company.  They don't want to lose any money, but they don't care if any of us do.  ALWAYS research an agency BEFORE you book.  It's easy to get good reviews (just 20% in this case) when nothing goes wrong... but look into what they do when things go sideways;  It's never to the customer's advantage and they hide behind e-mail with nothing but platitudes as they shine you on.

Still...  going to stay positive because there are just some things that are out of our control and we need to accept them.  Weather is out of anyone's control.... how you treat people is not.  👍

 

[Canal archive]

Are these water collectors?

[Seattle1964]

22 minutes ago, Canal archive said:

Are these water collectors?

"rainmaking" apparatus.  Usually just fuming chemicals and/or gunpowder to make "thundermugs" and "lightningmugs"  LOL  It was quite the presentation and to "simple" people, seemed to be very advanced technology.  Sounds like thunder and makes bright flashes at dawn/dusk, must be a storm!

Even modern cloud seeding is inconclusive as to whether is causes a statistically significant increase in precipitation.  And... of course... there need to be clouds for precipitation to occur no matter what the rainmaker claims.  🙂

Edited July 25, 2022 by Seattle1964